Sometimes I think of strange things.....

[TrainChaser]

Cutting up firewood is very boring, but it is what I did for a good part of today.  Other than not cutting off your fingers or hands, a person needs something to think about. 

For some unknown reason, I started thinking about that story of a landfill in the San Francisco Bay area that was finally closed, topped with soil, and an entertainment amphitheater was built on the site.  During the first few concerts on the grass, the concert attendees noticed that where some people were smoking (various substances) there were sudden outbursts of flame.  For the whole story, see this:  http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/swfacilities/Landfills/Gas/CaseStudies/Shoreline/default.htm

So, here's my question:

Sewer gas produces methane in a relatively high concentration.

Methane can be used as fuel to produce heat, reducing the consumption of fossil fuels.

If you dug a hole with a posthole digger, used the hole as a place to deposit human waste, would it produce enough methane to cook dinner?

 

[KASibson]

I don't know about cooking dinner, but there are a number of former landfill sites that are set up to capture methane gas and use it to produce electricity.

 

[jimindenver]

I don't know if it would work but I think it would taste like ......

 

[DannyB1954]

There was one of those in Alameda Ca. We called it mount trashmore. they have genetically modified cows now to produce less methane. Wierd.
Some ranches used to cover the manure pile then use the fumes to power the ranch.

 

[sephson]

For some reason, this conversation reminded me of this:

[video=youtube]

 

[highdesertranger]

it takes a lot of sh*t to make methane. it would take you a year of poop to cook one meal. highdesertranger

 

[Gary68]

yep,they already do the methane capture thing and if you think that it weird stay far away from what goes on in my head or you too will be thinking about a combined hydraulic and electrical system or disproving mathematics

 

[Gary68]

it takes a lot of sh*t to make methane.  it would take you a year of poop to cook one meal.  highdesertranger

you'll think different after my made from scratch chili

 

[TrainChaser]

I really don't see why it would take a lot of sh*t.  The concept should be the same for large or small amounts, as it all composts.  Maybe mixing the feces and urine makes more methane?  Like a bonus?

Okay, I read one of the above links on a home methane digester.  To me, it just looks like a separate unit to hold the waste (a plastic barrel) and a hose to direct the methane to a stove burner with an on/off switch.

Just replace the barrel with a hole in the ground, eliminate the hose, top the last few inches of the hole with sand, set a thrift shop stove burner grate over it, and strike a match.  Keep a metal lid handy and put it over the flames when you want to 'turn it off' (deprive it of oxygen).

Maybe I'm missing something obvious -- it wouldn't be the first time.

It probably wouldn't hurt to try it.  Just think:  if it works, Bob could set up a series of holes and ignite them after dark as nighttime guides to the RTR for late arrivals. I saw on one of the RTR videos that one night they served chili.   

 

[Trebor English]

Yogurt and sourdough need a starter culture. The digester to make methane uses chicken poop or other manure as the starter and corncobs, hay, or whatever plant matter you are trying to get rid of as the main source of the carbon.

 

[ArtW]

What HDR said, poop generates methane slowly, it'd take more than a couple loads to cook dinner
That said, I do think it's possible, but you will never produce methane enough from one meal to cook another

 

[DannyB1954]

If you ate beans before chopping wood, you might have fuel for the log splitter.

 

[WriterMs]

In related poop knowledge, dried cow or buffalo or other animal dung has been used as campfire fuel for centuries. Some have, I believe, burned that in wood gasifiers for running vehicles, too.

Butt (hehehe), remember how vehicles using the alternative fuel of used fast food oil leaves a wake of french-fry smell along the road? Well, you get the drift....

 

[TrainChaser]

I've only seen buffalo once, and the one that wanted to stick his head in my car scared my dog to death.

Cop: "What's this stuff?"
Me: "Buffalo poop. I use it to cook dinner."
Cop: "Move along."

I used to know a guy who did the bio diesel thing for his truck, but he got his oil from Chinese restaurants -- it may have had the odor of food, but at least it wasn't french fries. Or donuts -- or he would have had a conga lina of patrol cars following him....

 

[accrete]

There was one of those in Alameda Ca...

During the 1960's through 1973 I lived in Alameda (went to Encinal High School adjacent to the Navy base). Fun times. Haven't been back in maybe 30 years? Can imagine lots of changes since. I do enjoy watching Myth Busters since many of their crazier experiments with vehicles and such are at the now-closed base and runway.

: ) Thom

 

[flying kurbmaster]

I don't think it is so far fetched of an idea, I saw something either on utube, in a doco or a tedtalk or something can't remember but it was about this guy, in a third world country somewhere in Africa I think but it may have been an Islander, anyways he was doing exactly that, extracting methane from their drop loo and using it as cooking fuel he had it piped in somehow turned it on like gaz and cooked with it. It was a very basic set up using materials easily and cheaply found,

 

[bigsallysmom]

Before electricity came to rural areas in the US, some hog farms were capturing methane to run equipment. Poop is all in one place in the lagoons.

 

[ArtW]

well, it's certainly a renewable resource
methane heats dinner, dinner gets pooped out to make more methane, AND makes fertilizer for new crop to eat which makes more poop
Cue 'circle of life' song from the Lion King

 

[TrainChaser]

ArtW: "... I do think it's possible, but you will never produce methane enough from one meal to cook another"

Okay, four holes 'methaning': breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner!